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I have a fannish confession. I haven't bought any of the Star Trek complete season box sets. I can't even pretend that this is because I'm opposed to purchasing entire television seasons when I consider it unlikely that I'll watch every single episode, because we've bought Garfield for the kids and Monty Python for us...and, okay, I bought the first three seasons of Dawson's Creek for myself and will undoubtedly get the fourth season when it comes out next month. But those were $30 each. Compare that to the prices of Trek DVDs...and in most cases these are episodes I've bought before, in different formats or different packaging.

I don't know why the idea of paying more for my favorite television show aggravates me so much. I paid a lot of money a few years back for VR5 on videotape, because that was the only way it was available and no one was rerunning it; I was happy just to have it available. But this week rumors circulated of a deluxe Lord of the Rings complete box set, to be released in 2007 complete with never-before-seen footage and bloopers, and instead of celebrating and rejoicing that there would be more LOTR, my reactions were annoyance, disgust and embarrassment. I feel as though a line has been crossed, and something I had considered an artistic endeavor has been subjected to the same commercial values as Star Wars, about which I never had any illusions.

I will admit that I am very tempted by the DS9 sets -- I was given the seventh as a gift, and have actually done quite a bit of watching, and am craving the first, second, fifth and sixth seasons, at which point it seems silly not to have the entire series run. But it's so much money. I could take a trip to Europe for the cost of the collected Star Trek episodes, or buy nearly every other show I've ever loved, or, you know, save for my children's higher educations, and still watch Star Trek either off Paramount videos or off our tapes from the Sci-Fi Channel of a few years ago. Yet clearly there are people who are more casual fans than I am, who have never attended a convention nor read any fan fiction, who buy the DVD sets. Are my fannish priorities somewhat odd?

Trek BBS Today

Below are some of the topics currently being discussed at the Trek BBS:

Berman On 'Final Journey' Trek X TaglineExecutive producer Rick Berman said that "there may be" truth to Star Trek Nemesis' billing as 'A Generation's Final Journey' in official material, and said Paramount was "crazy" about the film.

Official 'The Seventh' Details ReleasedT'Pol's past came back to haunt her in upcoming Enterprise episode "The Seventh", in which she had unfinished business from her earlier career as a covert operative to complete with help from her current crewmates. Executive producers Rick Berman and Brannon Braga wrote the story.

Dawson Concentrates On DirectingRoxann Dawson said that after seven years of playing B'Elanna Torres on Voyager, she was focused on directing rather than additional acting credits, with three Enterprise episodes and an Any Day Now installment already helmed by her.

September 14th is the 58th birthday of Walter Koenig, who played Chekov on the original series. It's also the birthday of Bruce Hyde, who played Kevin Riley.

This Week's Television Listings

Friday night at 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time, UPN will show a rerun of Star Trek: Enterprise's "Zero Hour". Here's the official synopsis of the episode:

With Earth in sight, Archer, Hoshi, Reed and a small team race to intercept the charging superweapon, sneak past the Xindi Reptilian onboard and disarm it from within, but while the gambit could save humanity, it may cost Archer his life. Back in the Delphic Expanse, T'Pol and Enterprise attempt to obliterate a key Sphere in the region before the furious Sphere Builders tear the ship apart and the region's degenerative effects kill the crew.